Here's another type of car that used to be everywhere, but that seemed to suddenly disappear from the road at some point during the 1990s. I found this example parked just down the street from the red '61 Plymouth Valiant, and it's in decent shape and a 2-door to boot.

I keep my eyes open for DOTS cars when I'm out and about on the streets of Alameda, and often…
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The Maverick (and its Comet siblings) sold in huge numbers during the first half of the 1970s- it was fairly small, got decent gas mileage (for its time), and shared tons of parts with other Fords and was thus easy to get fixed.

A 200-cube six was the standard Maverick powerplant in '74, but you could get the 250 for an extra 42 bucks, or a 140-horse 302 for $122. Huge 5MPH crash bumpers were also standard.

Much as millions of passenger pigeons once darkened the skies, millions of Mavericks once swarmed the American road. Now just a handful survive, and most of those are destined for garage coddling and the occasional car show. Let's hope this one remains in street service for another few decades.